CATFISH CAPER RIDE 9-24 THRU 9-25-2011

Day 1:

Got up early this morning for our overnight ride, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep very well and was up and down all night long and finally called it a morning and got up at 4am did the usual morning routine by letting the dogs out, giving them their medicines, and feeding them for the morning.  My husband finally got up around 5am and started his morning, finished packing, and he started loading the bike up for the weekend trip. 

I made sure that I had plenty of warm clothes on so that I will stay warm.  This is the first year that I have ridden in temperatures below 70 degrees, I get cold so easy, and it did not sound like fun to me to be out in the cool air, however, I have completely enjoyed the cool air.  Well I know it is going to get a lot colder but time will tell if I have the true spirit of riding when it gets colder than 50.  I have learned that being in the fresh air can do the soul and body good.  We mounted up and headed out to Harley Davidson North Side with a slight little morning detour, we decided to meet up with some of the HOG Members for breakfast at a local Bob Evans Restaurant.  We were the first to arrive; after being immediately seated, hot coffee was on the menu along with the food.  It was a very short cold ride into town.  Shortly after ordering part of the group came trickling in.  As we were leaving the restaurant it started to rain, we mounted the bike and headed for the dealership.  As everyone started arriving, it was time to take some pictures, our Director arrived, and finally the whole group was ready to roll.  

 

The directions for our weekend trip was handed out, and safety rules were gone over, it was time to head out on the open road.  At one of our gas stops, one of our newest members had a slight problem getting her bike started and after some help, she was able to get back on the road.  It was nice to get off the bike and stretch the legs out.  The break ended quickly and we were on the road again, the weather did it’s best to dampen our spirits but Mother Nature has no idea who she is messing with, because we all enjoyed the ride even if the rain came and went numerous times. 

The ride out for our first destination was The Silver Moon in West Union, IL.  This was an awesome restaurant with wonderful staff and we were all starving so as we always do, stuffing ourselves was first priority, some more than others.  They saved room for the next stop that was the dessert stop at our Directors sister house.  We arrived and the dessert was awesome, numerous kinds of cheesecakes that was out of this world.  We stayed here for a while socializing with all our friends and having a blast, some of the member’s headed back to Indy and the rest of us decided it was time to get back on the open road and head to the hotel for the night which was located in Evansville, IN.  As we headed out Mother Nature was at it again and we had to pull over into a gas station so some of the riders could fuel up and get on rain gear and change out helmets.  We finally made it to the hotel drenched, tired, and ready to check in and rest.  My husband and I shared a room with a couple to split the expense of the hotel room.  We were on our own for dinner, some decided to go to a restaurant named Bar Louie and we decide to go to Texas Roadhouse, both in walking distance of the hotel.

We got a chance to meet several of the new members of the Chapter, it is always nice to get to know new people, I am horrible with names but great with faces until I have been around people for a few times.  Everyone in this group is awesome and we had a blast at dinnertime.  With our bellies full, it was time to walk back to the hotel, the days ride and fresh air has certainly tired the body and mind.  My husband and I headed up to the room and jumped into our PJ’s, with me in my monkey pants and him in his moose pants, it was time to relax and chill out.  Our roommates came in and decided it was time to do the same; we left the room so they could get in their PJ’s as well.  We came back into the room and Shiz & I decided to go to another room to socialize with some of the other HOG members while the guys chilled out and watched TV.  It gave me a chance to get to socialize with some familiar faces this was my moment to get to know more of our brothers and sisters.  I love gatherings like this; I am a little social butterfly you know.  I had a blast and have become closer to those in our group.  It was getting late and time to hit the bed for some much needed rest.  Stay tuned for day 2 write-up to follow.  Wasn't able to get to many pictures as the rain would have ruined my camera.

PLAYING HOOKY RIDE

Okay so my husband and I decided to take the day off to play hooky (probably not spelled right) oh well, we invited a few other friends to go along with us.  We met at around 10:45am in Noblesville; the morning was cold but grateful there was no rain.  Big John, Shiz, Dan, and Marci pulled into the gas station.  After a short break, it was time to mount up and head out on the day’s ride. 

Our Shadow decided to come along for the ride!

We headed north on Hwy 37, it was a beautiful morning; the sun came out and parted the clouds just enough for our ride up north.  Everyone agreed that a good restaurant was in order and John & Shiz picked the place, we headed out to Ivanhoe’s in Upland, IN. This place had a great review in one of our HOG newsletter’s in the beginning of summer.  This restaurant literally had over 100 flavors of ice cream, and to see the menu was extraordinary.  Needless to say none of us ate any of the ice cream because we were to full.  

 

We went outside to take some photos before leaving and we met a young man who is “Walking America”, we took some pictures and he told us his story and it is truly amazing at the amount of miles, trials, and tribulations this young man has been through in his journey.  To read more about Allen and his quest please visit www.allensjourney.com you can follow all his post and you tube videos as he goes along.  He was a super nice & humbled young man.

This is "Allen"

After spending some time at Ivanhoe’s we headed into Jonesboro, IN to see what they had going on as many of the towns were hosting their Fall Festivals.  Upon our arrival, we parked the bikes and decided to stroll down Main Street.  There were quite a few vendors set up and music was going for the day’s festivities.  I found some chaps that were at a good price but decided not to buy them.  I later regretted that decision.  

After visiting there, it was time to head to our final but best stop of the day in Fair Mount, IN, “James Dean Days”.  It was exciting to be able to go see this festival, the locals work hard all year long to be able to host this event, and this is the biggest one of the year for this small little town.  I finally get the chance to see what all the fuss is about.  History lesson again, I found out this was the childhood area two major names Jim Davis who is the creator of “Garfield” and the famous “James Dean”, we were not able to go see the grave site of James Dean, but since we are not far from here it will be an easy day trip for next year.

We pulled in and hunted for a suitable parking area for our four motorcycles.  All the people walking around and all the cool cars that I could see off in a distance distracted me.  Dismounting the bike and I eagerly started walking towards the festivities.  With quite a few pictures taken, I hope you all enjoy the selected few that I have posted on here.  We walked all around and enjoyed the sites, smell of food and each others company.

It was time to leave as a couple of friends of ours had to head out to keep an appointment, so we all mounted our bikes and took off for home.  We ended up getting on Southbound I-69 and headed for home, my husband and I were last in the lineup as my husband was running sweep and we would be the first ones to leave the group for the day.  

I hate this interstate, traffic is horrible, and I got the crap scared out of me.  As I stayed seated tightly on the back, a couple of dingbats decided to play chicken with our bike as the other three motorcycle’s were able to maneuver their way around, we became boxed in with Semi’s to our right and an SUV in front of us and a truck right behind us.  They would speed up and hit the brakes causing my husband to have to stay within the boxed area and keep us alive.  All I could do was hold on for dear life and pray and we made it through this seemingly stupidity of other drivers that have no concern for motorcycles or someone else’s life.  One of the Semi drivers observed what was going on and made a move to allow us to be out of this boxed in area and move forward away from these two idiots.  Thank you to the trucker for the kindness he showed us.

We finally caught up with our small group to wave goodbye as we headed off our exit.  The rest of the group had no idea what we just went through, as they were a mile or so ahead of all of it. It was a great day without rain and glad we were able to get back early as we had riding plans for the next couple of days.  This was going to be a long weekend, and probably the last overnight ride of the season as the riding season is winding down and will eventually end for the winter.  However, do not worry readers; I will have weekly updates on what is going on during the winter months so please stay tuned.

WOLF PARK RIDE

This morning I woke up to the most beautiful rainbow that I have ever seen.  This rainbow was a clue as to how the day would go, which was awesome!  

Today we decided to meet up with a few people to ride up to Wolf Park located in Battle Ground, IN.  Today’s ride included Dan & Marci, Steve & Marci, my husband, and me.  Four bikes and six people small group but it was a great ride.  We all met up around 10am this morning at US421&St Rd.32, we headed north and due to construction on 421 we continued north on 29 to 26.

We stopped for lunch at the TripleXXX in Lafayette, IN.  This was a neat little restaurant, the food was awesome, guests were friendly, and the restaurant staff was awesome.  They had some awesome food and great root beer.  After getting or bellies full of food, it was time to head out to Wolf Park.  The road into the park was gravel, long and full of some big holes so we had to go extremely slow and keep our eyes peeled out so that we would not go down.  We finally made it to the Wolf Park Center and as I stood and gazed at my surroundings, I noticed that the facility really did not look like much from where I was but we headed inside the building, which was the Gift Shop, and it was truly amazing inside, everything Wolf you could possibly want.  We then made our way out to the bleachers to sit in for a demonstration on the Wolves.  This was very interesting to listen to and it was nice to see the Wolves interact with their natural habitat, each other, and the workers.

After the demonstration, the Staff escorted the group to the back of the park to see the Buffalo and Wolf Demonstration, along the walk we saw the Senior Wolf Center, which I thought was somewhat sad and I felt sorry for Kiri.  He is 18 years old and has severe arthritis, they do give him medication but it was still sad to see, he has had a full life and living out the rest of his days in his enclosure with plenty of room to roam. 

We also were able to see the Coyotes and man were they hyper, they started their howling and carrying on, I think they were jealous of the Wolves because they wanted to get out and play.  We made it to the bleachers where I was able to get some good pictures of the Bison; the history about these animals and our ancestors was quite educational and new to me.  I have never seen a real Bison, and I have to say they are so beautiful, the site astounded me.  If you want to learn more about the Wolf Park, you can visit their website at www.wolfpark.org .  Watching the Bison was education and entertaining at the same time.  I was watching one of the babies he was just standing out in the field face to face with the photographer and he did not move as if he was protecting the heard, he will be the big guy in charge one day.

There is so much information given in the demonstrations but you can learn even much more by watching these majestic creatures in their own environment.  I had to leave the group for a little bit and on my way back (yes I was escorted to and from the bathrooms) I was able to get some great pictures of some other Wolves that were in their enclosures.  All of them have such beauty, grace and an eagerness to be noticed, all of these animals were born in captivity and are well cared for, I am very thankful that this park has the ability to learn and teach others about the Wolves, Buffalo and all of the other animals they have.  It takes a lot of dedication to do their jobs and I for one commend each caregiver at this facility.  Please take a moment to view the pictures below to get a glimpse into this facility.  The Wolf Park is raising money to build a new Education Center and they are doing this by people donating to their organization.  I hope you enjoyed reading this blog entry as much as I have enjoyed writing it.  Please stay tuned for more blogs on upcoming rides as the season is winding down.